Up and Down
by Cutthroat Pixie
Summary: Fem!Spain and Romano: Romano never looked up to Spain, but he always had to look up at her.


Title: Up and Down  
Pairing/Characters: Fem!Spain and Romano  
Rating: PG  
Notes: This is entirely based on a conversation with a friend about how Fem!Spain is totally very short. This makes perfect sense because the average female height in Spain is 5'5" and average male height in Italy is 5'9 1/2" according to Wikipedia. Just go with it okay, she's a fun-sized fiesta.

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Romano would never claim (or confess) to have ever looked up to Spain- why would he? She was an idiot. Warm, friendly, strong, and well-meaning, but an idiot nonetheless. He didn't ever wish that he could smile as easily as she did, nor did he ever wish that he could protect others as she protected him. She was a stupid, bastard of a woman, and Romano had no desire to be like that.

That aside, there was a time when Romano did quite literally have to look _up_ at her.

When he'd first gone to live with Spain, after Austria had cast him aside, she'd been able to easily lift him into her arms. When speaking to him, she would often crouch down to be at eye-level with him, ruffling his hair and poking at his cheeks the whole time. As she cooked dinner, he'd sit up on her kitchen counter, stealing bits and pieces of the food she was attempting to prepare. When she scolded him, however, she was always standing above him, as that seemed to be the only semblance of authority she could manage over him, that she was taller. She was stronger, too, but Spain had never been one to raise a hand against him, despite all the kicks and punches he may have aimed in her direction as a child.

As he grew older, grew taller, he never recalled any change in Spain's appearance- in actuality she may have been growing as well, from a teenager to an adult woman, just as he was growing up from a bratty toddler to an even brattier young man.

When he was old enough that Spain could no longer excuse the dresses she'd once forced him to wear, she was still able to lift him up into her arms, though he didn't fit quite as before, his knees resting on either side of her hip as she cuddled him close. She'd still set him up on the counter when she cooked, but it wasn't entirely necessary, as with each year that passed, he grew more and more able to see over the counter, to reach shelves in her pantry should she ask for something (though he was quicker to argue in response than to do as he was told).

He may have been growing, but Spain always seemed to forever be a larger than life presence to him, always towering over his smaller form.

Puberty forever marked itself as a time he'd rather not look back on. Spain liked to giggle, pinch his cheeks, and call him a "late bloomer". The raging hormones were definitely there, his night time incidents were definitely not involving him- or any squirrels- wetting his bed, but he never seemed to be quite as tall as the other boys his "age" (no other human boy would have been quite as old as he actually was, after all). At least she didn't try to pick him up any longer, but he still found himself being pulled into hugs that left him blushing and sputtering, due to the unfortunate placing of his face and her chest.

He still hadn't quite managed to catch up by the time he'd unified with his brother. He was a teenager, a young adult, but still not a fully grown man- that would come later. At that time, however, he'd been about at eye level with Spain, almost her equal without her having to stoop down or bend over, but not quite. When he left she'd kissed him on both cheeks, uttered a watery, "Hasta luego," and he almost wished he wasn't quite so tall, because he didn't like being able to see the mistiness in her green eyes so clearly.

After that, Romano didn't see Spain for quite some time. Unification may have become a reality instead of just a dream, but it couldn't exactly happen over night, and Romano found himself spending far more time actually working than he would have liked. At some point during those years he went without seeing the Spanish woman, he hit that growth spurt he'd been waiting for- and he had the growing pains to prove it.

Still, whenever he thought of Spain (not that he did if he could help it!), whenever he read her letters, spattered with drawn hearts and an a ridiculous amount of unnecessary exclamation marks, she was that tall, over-powering force of nature she'd always been as he was growing up.

Which was why, when he did finally see her after things had settled down a bit so many years later, he was in for quite a shock.

It didn't come when she'd answered his calls for her to come into the fucking entrance to her house to greet him by lunging at him and bowling him over in a tight embrace. That was normal; she was always doing annoying shit like that. It didn't come when she squeezed him with far more strength than he would have cared for (Romano, like most peoplenationswhatever, liked to breathe every now and then).

It came when she pulled back and he found he had to look _down_ to be able to see the laughter in her eyes. When _she_ had to lean up to greet him with a light peck to each cheek. When she hugged him again, in a less suffocating fashion, and he noticed that her face fit right into the groove where his neck met his shoulder.

While his whole world was being rocked (when the hell had she gotten so _short_?), Spain didn't seem to notice a thing. "Did Roma come over to help me pick tomatoes, hm?" she inquired, grinning up at him (_up_ at _him_). "It's just about that time of year, but I'm sure you knew that!"

He didn't respond, but Spain seemed to take this as a, "Yes," as she so often did when Romano did anything or nothing at all after she'd asked a question. She grabbed his hand and dragged him off back out the front door, not bothering to close it behind them. "Most of them probably aren't quite ready yet, but we can search for some good ones for a snack, vale?"

"Whatever, Spagna," Romano replied, rolling his eyes as he was pulled towards Spain's blooming tomato fields. He may have gotten taller, much taller than she, but Spain was still as "big" as ever.


End file.
